JS here, so apologies in advance if I am required to seek permission before posting.
While my thoughts echo RockTeethMothEyes in regards of the draft forum, I am also in favor of limiting the number of idea threads. While I am fine with an author having two or even three idea threads active at a time, provided they do not expect to have the same person answer to all of them, I tend to see shotgunning to be a somewhat desperate attempt to, like Tuomey Tombstone said, see what will stick.
In my opinion, I believe such attempts should be limited to chat instead, as the ability to discuss concepts and changes tends to make people push forward one idea at a time rather than shoving all of them at once. That way, the author has the ability to improve their future ideas halfway through.
1) Writer goes to either #site19 or #thecritters in order to posit their ideas
2) Critter joins and offers help
3) As Critter has offered to help Writer in real-time, Writer doesn't see the need to push all their ideas immediately, and starts with one of two options:
- starts with their first idea. This usually leads to the chain of axioms continuing past step 4.
- starts with what they believe is their best idea. This usually leads to the chain of axioms ending at step 4.
4) Critter gives opinions, crit, feedback, etc. This leads to one of two scenarios:
- Writer has a usable concept and has generated something usable, but needs work, or can be worked on. Steps 3 and 4 will repeat as Writer seeks to improve this idea. As the concept has shown to be able to stick, writer will choose to work on it.
- Writer's concept is lacking a core component, or will not work out due to an inherent flaw, either due to an inaccurate assessment of a topic (such as mental illness) or because the idea is fundamentally uninteresting and Writer doesn't know or doesn't want to improve it. Writer will now instead attempt to push forward Idea 2, moving the chain to step 5.
5) Writer's intent to find an idea to stick will push them to improve Idea 2 with the feedback given from Idea 1. Perhaps, they steer away form topics they know they will not do justice, or they will attempt to lay out a narrative instead of just a "thing that does a thing." This not only saves the Critter's time, but also overall improves their idea's chances of surviving. Chain of axiom will then move back to step 4.
Furthermore, this saves a critter's time, as they can allow the author to know when they are feeling overwhelmed with ideas. Since the writer has only pushed one idea at a time, this ensures they get feedback on at least one idea before the critter leaves. Meanwhile, on the forums, critters feel obligated to either answer all the shotgunned ideas or leave the entire piece alone (which doesn't help when a critter crits one or two ideas and the author asks "Well, what about the others?"), thus styming what feedback the author might have received - many people simply don't have the time, patience, or willpower to crit every single one of those ideas when they know the author will most likely focus on one or two. Yes, there are exceptions, but those are few and far between, and it seems unfair that critters must have this thought taunting them while they write up a review.
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